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Kanduadas
General information Kanduadas (natively, Kaduatas ˈkäⁿdwɐdɐs) is the official language and a national language of the country Kanduai (Kaduae) on the moon Chesnon (Tsyesnae), which orbits the giant planet Mamrun (Mamrą) around the star Benja (Bedrya). Chesnon is the name in English of the moon as well as the species. They call themselves Tsyesnarenem tʃɐʃˈnäɾe̞nɐm (lit. "soul-having ones", singular: Tsyesnaren). Phonology *The standard language is based on the dialect of Makyóroun mɐˈcɤ̞ɾɯŋ (great-unique-city, the Kanduaians are very literal namers). Consonants #n is an allophone of /ŋ/ adjacent to an alveolar consonant and is in free variation with the regular pronunciation of /ŋ/ intervocalically. #/d/ only contrasts with /t/ intervocalically. Same for /c/ and /ɟ/. #/ʔ/ only appears in a few conservative dialects. #ɹ is an allophone of /r/ when word-initial or adjacent to /m/, /ŋ/, or /s/. #/s/ and /ts/ cannot be present in the same word as /ʃ/ and /tʃ/. The first one of these sounds present in a word spreads its place of articulation to any other sibilants in the word. Vowels *The sounds are rounded or unrounded according to the rules of roundness harmony. A vowel, usually the first vowel (that isn't /ə̃/) or the stressed vowel, dictates the roundness of a whole word. *ɨ̃ and ʉ̃ are the allophones of /ə̃/ before the reduced vowel ɐ or when stressed. *The legal diphthongs are /ai/, /au/, /ei/, /eu/, /oi/, and /ə̃u/. */e/ and /a/ are reduced to ɐ in the syllable before the stressed one, in a word-final unstressed syllable, and for /a/, in diphthongs. Phonotactics ©©V(/i/, /w/)©© * Minimal syllable: e'' /e/ "or" * Maximum syllable: ''smauln /smˠauɫŋ/ "I wanted you to die" * No more than two vowels or diphthongs are allowed in a row. If more than that would occur, the shortest/least stressed is deleted. * No more than two consonants are allowed in a row. If more than that would occur, they are broken up by an /e/. * Word-initial consonant clusters are: nasals+/r/, stops+/r/, sibilants+/r/, any consonant+/w/, /s/+nasals, /sp/, & /sk/. * Word-medial consonant clusters are: all word-initial & word-final clusters, /lh/, /lr/, stops+/ŋ/, & sibilants+/ŋ/. * Word-final consonant clusters are: /l/+nasals, /l/+voiceless stops, /l/+sibilants, & /rŋ/. * The consonant clusters can also be palatal(ized), and if one element is palatal(ized), the other is. Stress Stress, accompanied by a falling pitch, is placed on the antepenultimate syllable unless otherwise indicated by an acute accent in the romanizations. Writing System Native script The Kanduadas orthography, Pakaduasyel, is an abugida. Writing direction Pakaduasyel is written right-to-left in rows running top-to-bottom. Native ordering Consonants: 0, L, S, P, M, B, R, T, D, H, K, N, G, U Vowel marks: -e, -i, -o, -a, -ǫ, -ą, -į, -ai, -0 Transliteration This page is written with the Latin transliteration (Spokaduasyel) shown below. *Digraphs: (/ts/, /tʃ/), (/u/) Nouns Nouns decline according to case, gender, and number. 'Uol (α)' * Many nouns are singulare tantum, meaning they have no plural form. The third Uol declension can be used to force a singular reading, usually implying a specific singular object. ex. Kyor co̞ɾ, "city" (singulare tantum) ex. Galatton ᵑgäɫätɤ̞ŋ, "animal/beast" 'Mrapin (β)' ex. Paso pˠäsɤ̞, "sauce" ex. Myasą mʲäsə̃, "sword" 'Drala (γ)' ex. Tsriba tʃjiᵐbˠǝ, "horn" ex. Ryoge jo̞ᵑgɞ̞, "place" 'Plural' * In general, the first plural is for Uol and Mrapin, the second for Drala, and the third for some Mrapin; however, this pattern is broken frequently. ex. Galem ᵑgäɫɐm, "eyes" (plurale tantum) Noun usage Case Absolutive The absolutive case is primarily used for the sole argument of an intransitive verb. It is also used for the subject of a ditransitive verb. Ergative The ergative case is primarily used for the subject of an transitive verb. It is also used for the direct object of a ditransitive verb. Accusative The accusative case is primarily used for the object of an transitive verb. It is also used with locative postpositions. Dative The dative case is primarily used to force a venitive reading of locative postpositions. It is also used for the indirect object of a ditransitive verb. Ablative The ablative case is primarily used to force an andative reading of locative postpositions. It is also used next to other nouns to mark compositional words. Gender Gender is an interesting topic when talking about the Chesnon or their languages. They have three genders: alpha, beta, and gamma (Uol, Mrapin, and Drala in Kanduadas). And this is reflected in Kanduadas. Alphas have large manes, Betas have curled horns, and Gammas have reflective dark rings around their eyes. Chesnon are of course assigned the proper gender. Inanimate nouns are seemingly assigned at random or based on derivational suffixes, and loanwords by form. The gendering features of the Chesnon are not necessarily of the "correct" gender (ex. tsriba "horn"). Number The Kanduaian grammatical number system has quite a few quirks, most notably: # Nouns changing gender between numbers, ex. soulą (m) "a throw" vs. soulam (d) "some throws" # Nouns having multiple plural or singular forms (sometimes with slightly different meanings), ex. tsriba "a horn" vs. tsriboun "horn separate from a body" # High numbers of singulare and plurale tantum nouns, ex. kyor (sg) "city" & galem (pl) "eyes" Nouns Derivations * ''-ae'': location. ex. Kaduae "Kanduai" * ''-aren'': possessing, having. ex. palatįaren "beauty-having" > "model" * lyǫ-'': whole. ex. ''lyǫproiną "whole-person" > "body" * ma-'': great, large. ex. ''mamyasą "great sword" * ''-oun'': one, alone, only, unique. ex. tsyesnoun "soul-only" > "soulmate, true love" * pa-'': native, aboriginal, true. ex. ''paproinem "native-people" > "natives" * spo-'': alternate, other, false. ex. ''spogalem "false-eyes" > "camera" * ''-syel'': writing. ex. palatįsyel "beautiful-writing" > "calligraphy" * ''-tas'': language. ex. Kaduatas "Kanduadas" Pronouns * ex. Tekea ou pausén! * ˈu pˠäwˈse̞ŋ * 2s.ERG 1s.ACC hit-2s.PRET * You hit me! Verbs Thematic vs. Athematic verbs There are two conjugation classes in Kanduadas, thematic and athematic verbs. Thematic verbs, like mikuau "eat" are conjugated exclusively by endings which commonly contain the vowel a''. Athematic verbs, like ''tsou "read" are conjugated with vowel changes and endings which do not feature the a'' so common in thematic endings. Ablaut There are two ablauts that athematic verbs go through in circumstances described in the full conjugation section. They are labeled first and second ablaut. Some second ablauts have an alternate form used after a consonant or vowel which can't be palatalized. * a>eu>ya/a * ą>ąu>į * o>a>i * ǫ>ą>į/ǫ * ou>a>ye/i * i>au>i * į>ąu>į/ą TMA system * Nonpast: used for current events. * Past: used for past events. * Hypothetical: used for hypothetical events. * Presumptive: used for events that the speaker supposes/supposed happen(ed). When combined with the nonpast, it forms one of the two future tenses. * Volitive: used for events that the speaker wants/wanted to happen. When combined with the nonpast, it forms the other future tense. * Imperative: used for commands and requests. Nonfinite forms Dictionary forms The lemma is the connegative form, typically ending in ''-(a/o)u. Also provided in standard dictionaries are the theme type, and stem. ex. Souląu (athematic; soulą-''), "throw" Full conjugation Thematic Athematic * Vowels in parenthesis appear on consonant final stems. * Past tense forms, the active participle, and the contemporary transgressive undergo first ablaut. * Presumptive and volitive future forms, conditional forms, and the 2nd person imperative undergo second ablaut. Negation Negation is shown with a connegative plus the negative verb. ''Oudou ˈuⁿdu, "don't" (athematic; (h)ou(d)-'') *ex. ''Nimo mikuau hir!, *ˈmʲikwɐw ˈhiɾ *MPROX-ACC.mra eat-CONNEG NEG-2.IMP *"Don't eat that!" Examples Tsou /ˈtsu/, "read" (athematic; tso-'') ''Mikuau /ˈmʲikwaw/, "eat" (thematic; miku-'') Copula There are two copulae, also known as linking verbs, in Kanduadas, divided by grammatical aspect into gnomic and episodic. The gnomic copula (''pau) is used in descriptions of things or other general statements of truth. All arguments of the gnomic copula are placed in the absolutive case. It is typically dropped in the present tense in the third person or if a pronoun is present as an argument. Pau /ˈpˠaw/, "be (gnomic)" (athematic; pa-'') The episodic copula (''euau) is used in descriptions of events and actions or descriptions of a temporary nature (I am sick vs I am sickly). It is more commonly used following a verb in the active participle form to signify the progressive/continuative aspect. The episodic copula is never dropped. ex. Kyopresyo syolak euane. "I am washing the clothes." Euau /ˈewaw/, "be (episodic)" (thematic; eua-'') Demonstratives There are no indefinite or definite articles. Instead, Kanduadas uses demonstratives. The adjective forms decline as regular adjectives and the noun forms decline as class I ''drala nouns. The Deictic positions are as follows: Proximal: '''Anything that is close to the speaker. '''Mesioproximal: '''Anything close to the listener. '''Mesiodistal: '''Anything away from the speaker and the listener but still close by. '''Distal: Anything away from the speaker and the listener and far away. Adjectives Adjectives typically come before nouns. They decline according to gender, case, and number to match the noun they modify. They are all regular. Declension ex. Sels, "joyous, friendly, chummy" ex. Mesyour "famous" Comparison Adjectives have comparative and superlative forms which also decline for polarity along with the usual gender and case forms. ex. Galtson paso mesyourátelo paso Kaduasyo lį. "Galtson's sauce is the most famous sauce in Kanduai." Adverbs Adverbs are unusual in Kanduadas as they conjugate to agree with verbs according to mood, tense, and finiteness. The two conjugations differing whether or not the final consonant can be palatalized. If the root ends in a vowel, then an r'' is added to make it conjugatable. ex. ''Grary /ᵑgɾaj/ "loudly" Syntax Because of grammatical case and verbs showing person, Kanduadas is a pro-drop language and word order in Kanduadas is relatively completely free. Sentences are usually arranged Topic-Comment, but random ordering is used as a poetic device. Adjectives don't even have to be next to the nouns they modify, though they are generally placed immediately before the noun they modify. Possession Possession is shown by simple apposition in the order possessor-possessed, even for pronouns. ex. Ou tsribam! "My horns!" Postpositions Vocabulary Conjunctions or (e''), and (''rį), but/contrast (dem), for/rationale (byor), so/consequence (sį) Numerals Since the Chesnon have six fingers on each hand, it's fitting that most of their languages are base-12 (duodecimal/dozenal) instead of base-10, Kanduadas being no exception. * Combinations of multiples of twelve and a digit are placed in the opposite order of English. ex. pego-samastą "eighteen", literally "six (and a) dozen" Body parts Where the translations come in pairs, the first is singular and the second plural. * body: lyǫproiną β * chest/abdomen: tago β * head: dail/dailem α * mouth/snout: balton/baltoum α * tongue: ligous/ligousem α * tooth: tasya/tasyam γ * rhinarium: nelsin β * nostrils: nogoum pl * eyes: galem pl * outer ears: uesram pl * inner ear: skarekem pl * horn: tsriba/tsribam γ * mane: kraiso β * neck: nretsrya/nretsryam γ * back: alyag α * skin: kalin β * fur: toumin β * overcoat: satoumin β * undercoat: matoumin β * stripes: rįdoum pl * arm: groue/grouam γ * hand: * finger: * thumb: * thigh: * knee: * lower leg/foot: * hoof toe: oho/ohoum β Calendar A day (airą) on Chesnon lasts over 72 hours. A year lasts 90 Chesnon days, or 91 in even years (except for those years divisible by 10). Years are grouped into cycles of 120 years. The year is split into 4 seasons (beginning with Spring) and 6 (or 7) specially-named seasonless days in the middle of the year. Days are named by their arrangement in a 3 by 7 grid. The seasons are: * Atton ˈätɤ̞ŋ: Spring * Syores ˈʃo̞ɾɞ̞ʃ: Summer * Haipatą ˈhɐjpˠädə̃: Autumn * Mrosin ˈmɹo̞ʃyŋ: Winter A selection of days: the first day of the year is Atton Paras, the second Atton Goulos, the 30th Syores Dreihes, and the 46th day is Irimittes. Stellar system The moon Chesnon is the fourth moon of the giant planet Mamrun, which itself is the second planet of the star Benja, which is in a long orbit around a similarly sized star called Watcher. Stars and Planets Moons of Mamrun Category:Languages Category:Alien languages